On the blasted ground outside the Necrobot's fortress, the Autobots tear into the Decepticon Justice Division and their allies with fire and fervor. As Swerve and Rewind man laser turrets built into the shoulders of Ultra Magnus's new "Maximus Ambus" armor, Rewind tries to tell Magnus of the recent discovery he made about his brother, but the battle has all of Magnus's attention. Cyclonus swoops in low to bear down on Overlord, but the Decepticon sadist punches him into the ground. Chromedome blasts Overlord in the face to draw his attention away, and the grinning monster proceeds to describe in grisly detail how he dismembered the original Rewind before Chromedome blew up the cell containing them both. Chromedome screams a scream of passion and rage, and hurls a punch at Overlord... a punch of such freakish strength that it lifts Overlord off the ground and sends him flying backward! As Nickel proceeds to shoot Chromedome in the arm with Vos's rifle mode, Deathsaurus observes that the Autobots are fighting with unprecedented strength. Tarn assures him it is merely a last-gasp effort, and is more interested in the absence of Megatron, but Deathsaurus is certain that something has happened to the Autobots to give them this boost...

Flashback: Minutes earlier, as the Autobots engage in their group hug inside the fortress, an off-hand remark by Ratchet about the tightness of Tailgate's super-strength hug causes Velocity to have a brainwave. Reasoning that Tailgate's recent spark spasm released an energy wave that transformed him and, temporarily, those Transformers nearest to him, into super-strong outliers, it should theoretically be possible to induce such a spasm in someone else, thereby duplicating the effect on those assembled. The prospect of deliberately causing someone to have a nervous breakdown seems untenable, but Skids volunteers for the job and asks Chromedome to finally unlock his forgotten traumatic memories in order to accomplish it. Chromedome is unwilling to use his mnemosurgery needles, but as Tarn begins blaring "The Empyrean Suite" in advance of the DJD's attack, and the memories associated with the music begin to tickle the back of Skids's consciousness, Chromedome agrees to take another tactic: nothing more than a few awful, well-chosen words. Every memory from his time in Grindcore including the horrific, smelting death of Quark comes rushing back to Skids, and his spark erupts with light.

Present: Powered up into Outliers by Skids's sacrifice, the Autobots tear their way through their enemies, with Rodimus even pulling off his old "Flame Out" maneuver to incinerate a dogpile of Decepticons. Unfortunately, no sooner has he sizzled their circuits than he collapses to his knees, suddenly weakened, as the power-up begins to wear off!

Inside the fortress, Ratchet tends to Skids, who has been so badly traumatized by the experience that his spark has shrunk away to almost nothing. Ratchet attempts to stabilize him so that he can join the fight and leave the job of tending Skids to Megatron, but the ex-Decepticon is having some health problems of his own, suffering from cramps caused by Fool's Energon. Ratchet insinuates that they are actually the product of fear and anxiety, but Megatron refutes the allegation, and explains to the medic that he is refusing to fight not because he fears the DJD, but because he fears what he himself will become if he straps a weapon to his arm once more. As far as Megatron is concerned, if he allows himself to commit violence again, he will be unable to stop himself from committing more and more, endlessly. This forces Ratchet into a confession: Fool's Energon is a placebo. It has never sapped Megatron's strength; Megatron only believed that it did, and every time he fought someone since he began taking it, he was—however subconsciously—acting with self-imposed restraint. Just then, Megatron looks at the monitor displaying the fight outside, and sees Ravage being torn in half b

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